


lesson review

by cardist



Series: AEDWQ 2020 Write-Along [6]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Flashbacks, Found Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 08:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24347758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardist/pseuds/cardist
Summary: Dom and Arthur both lose someone. It’s hard to act natural anymore, but they learn. (Eames does something like help. Eventually Arthur will leave too. But Dom learns. They all do.)
Relationships: Arthur & Dom Cobb, Arthur & Mal Cobb, Arthur/Eames (Inception), Dom Cobb/Mal Cobb
Series: AEDWQ 2020 Write-Along [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730917
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	lesson review

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [Q](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queuebird/pseuds/queuebird) for the beta. Without them, I am naught but a fool.
> 
> I'm not in the [AEDWQ](https://teacuphuman09.tumblr.com/tagged/AEDWQ) but I'm writing alongside. Here were the instructions: 
> 
> Prompt: "Act Natural!" (should appear exactly as is in the fic)  
> Genre: Flashback  
> Word count: between 200 - 250 words.

Arthur was seven when Dom found him in an alleyway, tucked next to an old dumpster, dirt on his cheek, ire in his eyes.

Dom brought him home, bathed him, clothed him, let him sleep under a roof. 

Mal kissed Dom’s nose, said this was good, and Dom had probably smiled.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Arthur was eight when Mal taught him French. Thirteen when Dom taught him poker. Fifteen when Mal gave him a die. Sixteen when he entered dreamshare. Seventeen when he got a pointman's trade down to an art.

Twenty when he met Eames, and hated his guts to an incurable fault.

Twenty-four when Mal taught him one last lesson: “Aime sans regret, mon chéri”.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Then Dom lost track of Arthur's age. 

But he watched him wallow in grief. Watched him bury his feelings. Watched him work himself to exhaustion, eyes searching for escape.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Watched Eames pick Arthur up by the scruff of the neck. "Gonna teach you to forge, pet." 

Watched Arthur fail miserably, watched Eames lean in to say, encouraging, _s’okay, act natural. You’ll be fine_.

Watched Arthur learn something else from Eames: the nerve to dream bigger.

Watched Eames tease him. Watched them watch each other. 

Turned away when they kissed behind the warehouse, a summer day of distant cicadas and orange skies.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Only be a call away," Arthur murmured over the hum of an aircraft.

_You taught me what family is_ was left unsaid, though loud and clear in Arthur's eyes.

So Dom nodded, and said, "okay."


End file.
